Field Surgery
by flipfloppingotaku
Summary: The robots are here, and the respawn is down. Now Medic has to rely on more 'traditional' medicine to treat the fallen.


**So I'm browsing deviantart, and I come across a really awesome picture. Ok I found a lot of awesome pictures, and I found myself wanting there to be stories behind these pictures. There probably are already, but I haven't seen them so I decided to make some up. I will give credit where credit is due though, so for this one I was inspired by ViciousMe's "Procedure." Definately check it out.**

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The sounds of war were nothing new to Soldier. They were familiar things and he loved hearing them. He always had. The BANG BANG of a scattergun, the KABOOM of a well thrown grenade, the RATATATATATATATAT of machine guns and the delightful PHEEEEEeeeeee-BOOM of mortar shells. Yes, anywhere where these sounds could be heard was where Soldier felt he belonged, whether his enemies were Nazis, commies or the goddamn too-stupid-to-stay-dead REDs. He loved a good fight, and he would do it with anyone and anything that he had a chance to. In the last few days though, it hadn't been any of the above that were his mortal foe.

No. Now it was robots. Robots that had come to take his hard earned American job. To top it off, there was no more respawn, so now the robots would be killing his men. That was just plain unacceptable. Soldier may have been a war-mongering, gun happy psychopath, but he was also the commanding officer of his unit (or so he liked to think anyway,) and he would NOT tolerate anyone or anything killing his boys. This was the thought in his mind when he found the RED Scout.

The poor boy had taken a load of shrapnel to the gut from an explosion that had occurred only seconds ago. Soldier himself had only just managed to get away with only a few scratches, but the kid clearly hadn't been so lucky. Blood gushed from his torn belly and leaked steadily from his mouth and his hat and headset had disappeared, likely blown off somewhere. His eyes were closed and the veteran couldn't tell if the kid was even breathing. He rushed to the Scout's side and tried to check for a pulse. He was no medical expert, but he at least knew how to do that. Normally he wouldn't have even given the dying Scout a moment to spit at him since he was a RED, but factions had long since been thrown to the wind. Now they were ALL his men, and Jane Doe never abandoned his men.

From what he could gather amongst the assorted explosions and gunfire, he did hear the Scout's heart beating when he quickly pressed an ear to the boy's chest. He gave the kid a few slaps on the cheek to try to bring him around.

"C'mon son, snap out of it! This is just a paper cut, you can walk it off!"

Scout must have somehow heard BLU Soldier's yelling as his eyes slowly creaked open. He tried to say something smart alecky at whoever was hitting his face, but only managed to cough up more blood that spattered on Soldier's coat. The American frowned. He knew it was serious, but he wasn't going to say it.

"Okay fine, stay on your back you nancy, I'll call the Medic." He patted Scout's shoulder gently before getting up and shouting for the German. Either one of them would do. Much to his surprise, a pair of REDs dived into the ally to dodge another explosion, one with overalls and a hardhat, the other with red latex gloves and a white coat. This was the best thing he could have hoped for, or at least that the Scout could have anyway.

"'Bout time you got here kraut! We have a man down!" He yelled.

RED Medic gasped heavily to catch his breath before even trying to look at the veteran while the Engineer cursed about the destruction of another sentry.

"Ve…-gasp- have men down…-pant- everyvhere..." The RED finally looked at who the BLU Soldier had been talking about and seemed to instantly forget his fatigue. He hurried to the Scout's side and spoke to his injured teammate, trying to keep him conscious.

"Herr Scout? Scout can you hear me?" he asked. "Answer me junge!"

His efforts were rewarded with a pained groan and an absolutely pathetic look from Scout's now cloudy eyes. Medic grimaced at his expression; he knew the boy was in a lot of pain. Medic called Engineer over and on seeing the state his youngest teammate was in, the Texan knew exactly what the doctor was asking for and immediately started building a dispenser.

"Soldier, I need you to try und keep zis area safe. Ve cannot risk moving Scout now, he is in no shape to go anyvhere."

"Just zap him with the Medigun kraut, it isn't that hard is it?" BLU Soldier replied. Medic shook his head and started to remove the heavy Medigun pack from his back.

"I have run out of power, und zhere is no time for me to go recharge it now. I haf no choice but to operate here, so you _must_ keep zhe robots at bay vhile I work, understand?"

It was true, the normally glowing backpack had gone dark and was no longer emitting healing rays of any kind. The damn thing was just dead weight until it was recharged. Still, Medic was always prepared just in case this very thing happened, and it was even more important for him to be so now that respawn was no longer in effect. He had already lost the RED Sniper for that very reason. Along with his Medigun, Medic also carried standard field Medic equipment. It was much cruder and much messier, but it would have to do. Engie had finished the base of his dispenser when Medic called him over to help. He set the machine to self-erect while he carefully followed the doctors instructions. BLU Soldier went off to keep the robots away from the ally the other three were hiding in.

As per Medic's directions, Engie slowly eased the discarded backpack of the Medigun underneath the Scout so he was off the ground a little. The short, stocky man placed his gloved hand next to the kid's face in an attempt to comfort him. To his surprise, the boy leaned into the touch. He must have been hurting worse than they first thought. Medic swabbed one of Scouts arms and skillfully inserted an IV needle into a vein so he could give his patient more blood from a glass bottle marked with his blood type, which Engie held up with his free hand. Scout barely even noticed this happen, his focus was all on the pain in his gut.

Medic then proceeded to cut away Scout's blood soaked shirt so he could better see the wounds. Two long, deep gashes ran all the way across his abdomen, the two other men were all but certain that they could see his entrails. Engie had to use all his willpower to keep from gagging at the sight. Medic however was all but unaffected by the display and went about quickly cleaning his instruments as best he could so he could pull the shrapnel out of his teammate and stitch him up. Before he made the first incision however, he snatched a thick pencil from the Engineer's pocket and tried to press it into Scout's mouth. The boy clamped his mouth shut at first, uncertain and frightened of what the doctor was doing. The German looked the boy in the eyes with deathly seriousness.

"Listen closely junge, I do not have zhe means or zhe material to give you anesthetic or even a painkiller. Zhis is going to hurt **a lot**, and the best I can do now is to let you bite something. If I don't, you could very well destroy your teeth and vhile zhat may not seem like a big concern right now, it will only make everyzhing hurt vorse. Do you understand me?"

The young Scout seemed to take a moment to consider this and relented, not having the strength to argue with the doctor. He clamped his bloody teeth around the thick pencil and closed his eyes as tightly as he could. With nothing left to be done to make him ready, Medic began the arduous and agonizing surgery. Scout screamed and cried out from behind his improvised gag, tears of pain leaking from his eyes in a constant stream. He did his best to keep still while Medic worked, and he couldn't tell if it was fear or weakness from blood loss that was rendering him immobile.

As he whimpered and groaned, he nuzzled into Engie's hand harder, and the Texan stroked the boy's cheek gently with his thumb, muttering a constant stream of 'hang in there's,' 'yer doin' great's,' and other such phrases. His voice was soothing, but did little to distract from the agony. It felt like hours to all three of them, especially to Scout. Every now and then, another explosion would occur, or gunfire would go off too close for their liking. More than once, Medic had to shield his patient with his own body to keep dust and flying debris out of the wounds. Eventually the Medic stopped digging around in Scout's gashes and began sewing him up. The Bostonian wasn't sure if the sensation of his flesh being pulled by thread was any better or worse than having it being cut, but his screams had long since died down to pathetic groans and whimpers. The completed dispenser had made everything a **lot **more bearable. The muscles of his abdomen involuntarily twitched as the doctor stitched him closed, but the skilled surgeon paid them no mind and worked around them.

A few snips of some scissors signaled that the surgery was complete, the bloody shrapnel extracted and the wounds closed. Scout's gut still hurt like a bitch but at least he was no longer bleeding out. His streaming tears left pale lines down his face through the dirt and dust that had built up on his skin. He desperately wanted to pass out and forget the pain, but the sting of his new stitches kept him just barely awake. Engie looked at the German with deep worry on his face.

"Is he gonna be okay doc?"

Medic sighed as he tried to clean up after himself.

"It vas fortunate zhat ve came here vhen ve did. He vill survive, but he vill be out of zhe fight for a vhile." He pulled his gear out from under his patient and put it back on. "Now ve can take him to zhe safe house vhere I can recharge and heal him properly."

Engie nodded and pulled the pencil from the semiconscious Scout's mouth. It took a little more effort than he expected, the boy had nearly bitten the damn thing in half. He then scooped the Scout into his arms and with the doctor and the BLU Soldier as an escort, made it back to the safest place the team could find. Soldier restocked on ammo and took off to keep fighting. Engie lay Scout on a bench next to the wall, making sure the kid was comfortable before turning to head back out himself.

Back into the BANG BANGs and KABOOMs.


End file.
